The Metolius River was fishing really well this past week, with excellent nymphing and some highlights on the afternoon mayfly hatches!
Sequoia had a guide trip on House on Metolius 2 days ago and had really good luck with the Peacock TJ Hooker which is one of our shop favorites for a Green Drake Nymph.
Speaking of Green Drakes, the earliest Drake hatch I ever fished on the Metolius was on April 22nd years and years ago with my friend Hans from Switzerland. The earliest drakes will show up soon, but don’t expect a consistent hatch for another few weeks. In any case, it is Drake Time, and a Jig 20 Incher and Peacock TJ Hooker are 2 flies you need in your box every day from now until October. (don’t forget the Fall Drakes might be even a better hatch than the Spring hatch making the nymphs available on a pretty constant basis in the middle and lower river).
PMD’s have begun to hatch now, and while the Cinygmula has not dwindled out completely you should start seeing more of the PMD’s and more of them in April, May and June. Fish the entire life cycle with nymphs (PMD nymphs are brown #16), emergers, cripples (a lot of emergent PMD’s become stuck in the shuck, or get bedraggled in the film never to escape making them a prime target for a trout to feed on), duns and rusty spinners. In the summer the Spinners come back at dusk, but that is not always/not usually the case at this time of year, so pay attention to feeding fish and try a Rusty Spinner late morning or mid afternoon too. When the fish are eating the spinners the rise form is a gentle dimple on the waters surface, so if you are seeing that, try a spinner.
BWO hatches were also good over the last week and just like the above mentioned PMD’s is is important to fish all the stages of these smaller mayflies as each stage from Nymph to Spinner has its importance throughout the day. BWO nymphs come in a wider variety of color tones due to the fact there are simply so many species in the Baetis and Diphetor in the Western Rivers like the Met. Typically a #18-22 micro mayfly or 2 bit hooker is a good choice for deeper presentations. WD 40, PT and even simple Perdigons in the right size and color do the trick, and with the Perd, you can get the weight dialed in with the tungsten bead to get down to the fish. Colors are more often dark brown to even black, but olive is not uncommon and must be added to your box.
Caddis Pupa accounted for a lot of good stories last week too. The original Fat Ass Caddis and my (cheaper) Improved Fat Ass Caddis are solid flies you guys. If you haven’t added these to your box yet you need to do it. Not just for the Metolius, but all the rivers where caddis are important. The big Orange Caddis are winding down, but I would fish an Orange Rubber Leg Girdle Bug because with that fly you have fish looking at it as a potential October Caddis Pupa or a Stonefly Nymph.
Eggs, Micro Jig Streamers, Walts Worms, Frenchies, Rainbow Warriors and Golden Stone Nymph patterns should all be cycled through on any day on the water until you unlock the code. These are the patterns that are the most likely to compliment the hatch matching flies I mentioned above.
And for the Bull Trout addicted, it is good. There have been some really nice Bulls found on big streamers.
***REMEMBER that the upper river from the headwaters to Allingham Bridge remains closed until MAY 22nd***